2019-2020 NBA Thread

[Scrod]

It's fascinating how Kyrie seems to be going out of his way to make everyone dislike him.

So far he has:

Called himself a "young king"
Referred to the media as "pawns"
Walked around burning sage on the court
Referred to himself as a misunderstood "artist"

Charles Barkley said it best (as he often does):

“He starts talking about what an artist is,” the TNT analyst said. “He’s a basketball player. That’s what he is. Listen, we’re not front-line responders. We’re not teachers. Yo man, you dribble a basketball, stop acting like you’re the smartest person in the world.

“Now can you talk about social issues and things like that? Of course. But some of this other stuff, I’m like ‘Yo, man, you do realize you’re just a basketball player, right?’ And it seems like he’s like, ‘No, I want you guys to know I’m the smartest guy in the room.’ Well, first of all, you’re not. You only went to college for six months. A lot of guys are smarter than you are. Just answer stupid basketball questions. And if you want to say something about social justice, say it and mean it, because it’s important and significant. But all that other stuff? Like, yo, man, shut the hell up and talk basketball.”

[xskarma]

Well that was a butt clencher, but the plucky shorthanded Celtics pull out the win against the Bucks.

Fantastic start to the season.

[Pendulous]

Didn't know Derrick Favors was back. A sufficient pounding in the first game, Utah being healthy can have a dangerous roster as long as all those three's hit.

[StillMcfuu]

Well that was a butt clencher, but the plucky shorthanded Celtics pull out the win against the Bucks.

Fantastic start to the season.

I sort of think Bucks might be falling to 4th seed this year, maybe; they are going to get their regular season wins, but the east will be tough on them. Give me a week or 2 of games and I'd make calls, but I want to say the Nets and Celtics will be jostling for first and second, and the heat and Bucks will be fighting for 3rd and whoever loses the least amount of games to teams like the 76ers or Raptors will be taking that 3rd spot. And when it comes to close games, I'm not sold on Giannis, having Jrue and Middleton will help though. Its a tough call, I just don't think Bucks have much more than a starting 5. Really thats more of a 4.

[Blueobelisk]

Damn yo. I watched some of the Milwaukee-GSW and Nets-BOS game. I missed where they became blowouts though.

The one year a NY team is good is when I can't go see games live.

[StillMcfuu]

Damn yo. I watched some of the Milwaukee-GSW and Nets-BOS game. I missed where they became blowouts though.

The one year a NY team is good is when I can't go see games live.

3rd quarter on the nets game, KD had 20 ish and Kyrie like 15, same story next quarter just reversed numbers. Outscored Celtics 72 to 41 in 3rd and 4th. Celts just weren't making buckets.

[Scrod]

Damn yo. I watched some of the Milwaukee-GSW and Nets-BOS game. I missed where they became blowouts though.

The one year a NY team is good is when I can't go see games live.

I live near New York, but if James Harden goes to the same team Kyrie is on, yeah that's who I'm rooting against. 2 of the 3 biggest assholes in the league (Westbrook being the 3rd).

I like KD and I'm glad to see him doing well, but Kyrie is just... ugh. God I hate him.

[Kantoro]

Kyrie looks to be in game shape, too bad he is dumb as a stump.

[StillMcfuu]

I live near New York, but if James Harden goes to the same team Kyrie is on, yeah that's who I'm rooting against. 2 of the 3 biggest assholes in the league (Westbrook being the 3rd).

I like KD and I'm glad to see him doing well, but Kyrie is just... ugh. God I hate him.

Harden is definitely an asshole, both on and off court (at least team wise), but the other guys you think too?

Kyrie is eccentric, and he also constantly seems distant, which makes him hard to like. I think a big positive of Russ is he wears his heart on his sleeve, it makes him relatable, you know exactly who he is. Kyrie feels like he would be a recluse if it weren't for his basketball ability.

[Scrod]

Harden is definitely an asshole, both on and off court (at least team wise), but the other guys you think too?

Kyrie is eccentric, and he also constantly seems distant, which makes him hard to like. I think a big positive of Russ is he wears his heart on his sleeve, it makes him relatable, you know exactly who he is. Kyrie feels like he would be a recluse if it weren't for his basketball ability.

Kyrie has an incredibly high opinion of himself. The Barkley quote on Kyrie that I agree with:

“And when he talks I’m like ‘what the hell is he trying… what is he saying and what is he trying to say?’ He starts talking about what an artist is. He’s a basketball player. That’s what he is. Listen, we’re not… we’re not frontline responders. We’re not teachers. Yo man, you dribble a basketball, stop acting like you’re the smartest person in the world.

“Now can you talk about social issues and things like that? Of course. But some of this other stuff I’m like ‘yo man, you do realize you’re just a basketball player, right?’ And it seems like he’s like ‘no I want you guys to realize I’m the smartest guy in the room.’ Well first of all, you’re not. You only went to college for six months. A lot of guys are smarter than you are. Just answer stupid basketball questions. And if you want to say something about social justice, say it and mean it, because it’s important and significant. But all that other stuff? Like, yo man, shut the hell up and talk basketball.”

This also manifests itself with his view on his basketball. He's totally bought in on the guys who say that Lebron's not a closer and he needed Kyrie to hit the series winner for him, which is first of all, not productive, and second of all, stupid. He threw his Celtics teammates under the bus when he was there, and last year he made negative comments about his nets teammates too.

The guy just has a habit of throwing gasoline on fires. If he were as smart as he thinks he is, he'd be able to navigate the media better than he does. Instead he comes across as an arrogant asshole who's too in love with himself to realize how stupid he sounds.

Here's what he said about his flat earth comments:

"Look, look. Here it is. All I want to do is be able to have that open conversation. It was all an exploitation tactic. It literally spun the world—your guys' world—it spun it into a frenzy and proved exactly what I thought it would do in terms of how all this works.

"It created a division, or, literally stand up there and let all these people threw tomatoes at me, or have somebody think I’m somehow a different intellectual person because I believe that the Earth is flat and you think the world is round. It created exactly that."

"It became like, because I think different, does that knock my intellectual capacity or the fact that I can think different things than you? That was the intent behind it. Do your own research—don't come to me and ask me. At the end of the day, you’re going to feel and believe the way you want to feel. But don't knock my life over that.

"When I do something, I know my intent. And it proved what I thought it would."

After listening to one of Kyrie's speeches where he's trying to sound smart, I generally find myself wanting to repeat the speech from Billy Madison:

"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."

[xskarma]

AFter a great first game to the season, the Celtics dropped a game against the Nets, while playing like ass for most of the second half, and now drop an away game to the Pacers, who were down Oladipo. That's honestly not supposed to happen, even on the road.

Celtics need to rebound from this loss quickly cause Tuesday is the next game, again, away at the Pacers.

They should have had this one though...

[Scrod]

The Knicks are such a poorly built team. This year they continued their trend of drafting the guy who is talented but doesn't obviously fit on an NBA roster, while also continuing their trend of grabbing big names that the league has passed by (Thibodeau). Last year the guy they drafted was Barrett, the small forward who can't shoot. You can only be a small forward who can't shoot if you are Lebron or Giannis, and Barrett will never be that. This year they drafted Obi Toppin, who is talented, but has the body of a traditional power forward, a position that is disappearing.

This has been the Knicks' modus operandi for most of the past 20 years. They draft skilled players that don't fit together. Remember, this was the team that tried to pair Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry in the frontcourt, that tried have Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury share a backcourt. They love big names - the list is virtually endless.

The reason they keep ending up with so many power forwards is simple: other teams don't want power forwards anymore, and the Knicks are too stupid to catch on and just keep getting more and more versions of the same guy: Julius Randle, Kevin Knox, Bobby Portis, Obi Toppin...

They just did the same thing with their coach - they got Tom Thibodeau, a big name whose defense focused strategy the league has long since figured out. Two years ago, with Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, and Robert Covington - all guys with great defensive potential - the Timberwolves had the 24th best defense in the league.

So now they've got a team with NO shooting, and a coach whose strategies were successful before the three pointer took over, and a ton of players who play the same position, one that has mostly become irrelevant in the modern nba - the score first power forward with an average 3 point shot who can't protect the rim.

There's nothing you can do to fix this roster. Add Giannis to it, and they still can't shoot or guard wings, you'd have to get rid of everyone. I guess the hope is that they all magically develop skills than they don't have. Not holding my breath.

[Pendulous]

Bucks broke the record for most threes made in a game with 29, while TNT cut away from the game to show the next game's practice.

[Scrod]

Knicks great hope for the future RJ Barrett has missed 21 consecutive 3 point attempts. Through 9 games this year he has not yet blocked a shot. So he's not a good shooter, and he's not that athletic. Perfect.

[Scrod]

The Harden copycats are starting to appear. Trae Young taking 11 free throws per game and Doncic at 9. It’s disturbing that primarily perimeter guys can do this.

[xskarma]

Split the series with the fucking Pistons and making them look like an offensive juggernaut. Celtics defense has been atrocious. At least we won this one tonight, but it really should not have been this close.

New season, same inconsistent Celtics, playing down to competition on bad nights.

- - - Updated - - -

Kyrie such a bro. Missing a jumper to lose against the hapless Wizards. Making me feel better about splitting the series with the Pistons. Thanks Kyrie. <3

[xskarma]

Celtics turned a horrendous 1st Q around and beat up on the Raptors. Kinda surprised with how bad the Raptors defense was. Did not expect them to look like this after our series in the bubble.

also, Payton Pritchard is the steal of the draft so far. No offseason, no summer league, very little time after being drafted, very short preseason and somehow looks like a seasoned, quality veteran player. If he keeps this up he'll be starting in Kemba's absence soon.

[Pendulous]

Kyrie has 18 points in the first quarter. Jazz leading scorer is Donovan Mitchell, with...three. And those are all from the free throw line. This is embarrassingly terrible.

[xskarma]

Sixers and Celtics beign ravaged by Covid and contact tracing. Sixers are playing with the bare minimum tonight (dressing someone who can;t even play just to get to 8) and the Celtics have exactly 8 players not on injury/unavailable report.

Beginning to wonder if the NBA season might even be possible like this.

I think they might need to change their rules for back up players and increase roster sizes for teams hit with out breaks. IT would still lead to awful basketball, but at least you are not overworking a tiny group of players on teams when they are short handed. Cause that's guaranteed going to lead to too many minutes and actual injuries.

[Blueobelisk]

Hmmmm that's interesting. I honestly thought the NBA season would get wrecked like the week it started.